Bass in a Uke band

[Biglump]

Now I admit to being a pretty poor bass player. I'm improving, but there you go.
I play electric bass for a Uke orchestra (34 inch scale Jazz). ( I stand at the back for gigs)
The sound is obviously high and thin without me peddling away at the low end.
But when I apprgiate say, a 7th it doesn't seem to 'fit' sometimes.
Why?
Other times there seems to be nothing in the middle. The song sounds hollow(?)
This seems to be most apparent when doing something like Swords of a thousand men.
I guess the question is how do I fill up the low and the middle and the drum space?
Should I be moving away from the nut end more often?
I should add, we don't rehearse much, everyone just likes to get in there and play songs. So I get a 3 verse shot at sorting a bass line out, so simple answers would be best please.
I should add that amateur Uke orchestras are superb places to learn to listen because the beat can/ does change with the difficulty of the chords, which means developing lots of flexibility.

[chris_b]

Seems to me you're describing an EQ problem or short comings in your gear or maybe you're just playing the wrong line. I could say, get an acoustic bass and don't play 7ths but I don't know enough from your description.

Check out Jon Banks in the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain for gear, technique and all things bass in a Uke orchestra.

[CamdenRob]

IME the 7th needs resolving back to root as quickly as possible.. I use it as more of a leading tone (I use it alot going down from the root), If you hang it out there as a sustained note under a standard triad it clashes pretty badly.

[Happy Jack]

Not a uke player myself, but I'm guessing that ukes don't favour 7-chords the way that electric guitars do.

In blues & blues-rock, they're constantly in use in most 12-bar formats, so playing that 7th underneath them on bass usually sounds fine.

[Biglump]

Thank for the replies thus far.
The gear is usually either a Rowland bass micro cube or a cheapo practice were amp. So I would definitely agree with gear shortcomings.
So instead of 7th, what would work as passing notes in a basic run whilst peddling on the 7th and minors, please.

[ambient]

Usually I'd say (I was told often enough at uni), that you can't really go wrong with chord tones, just make sure you're playing the right 7th.

I'm doing some dipping for a jazz band that uses a bass uke instead of a normal bass. He gets a lovely double bass like sound from it.